June 5, 2013
A few decades before Al Gore inconvenienced us with An Inconvenient Truth, the concept of sustainability had some very different connotations. In the 1970s and 80s, society grew interested in sustaining not the planet Earth in itself, but Earth’s environment and the living conditions in which humans had, as far as we know, thrived for centuries. The idea of preserving and replicating this Eden, whether on Earth, on another planet, or suspended in outer space, inspired a wealth of research along with some fantastical design proposals for Martian settlements and space colonies.
Most of these schemes remain unrealized, existing only in our minds and in science fiction novels. One experiment did, however, achieve three-dimensional form: Biosphere 2, as it is known, is a 3.14-acre glass enclosure in Oracle, Arizona envisioned, built, and inhabited for two years in the early 1990s by a group of free-thinking scientists, entrepreneurs, and philosophers determined to test the limits of artificial living systems. A new video released by The Avant/Garde Diaries revisits the project’s extraordinary glass architecture as well as the ideas, criticisms, and analyses surrounding this early effort to guarantee mankind’s future through self-sustaining, man-made colonies. Click through for the video and more.
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May 31, 2013
Long before the MakerBot hit its stride as a favored source for jewelry, chocolate goodies, and even hermit crab shells, silkworms had been 3D-printing their own houses for ages. In their pupal stage, the critters spin about a kilometer of silk thread into the cocoons that protect them as they develop into moths. Now the geniuses at the MIT Media Lab have figured out how to get the common silkworm to 3D print houses for us. Read more!
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May 30, 2013
LOT-EK ‘Multifesto’ from Architizer on Vimeo.
So, remember when we threw that amazing architecture awards party? Well, that day we filmed our A+ winners presenting their brilliant multifestos—those pithy three-word artistic statements dreamed up by our friends at 2×4. Multifesto: a communal design manifesto asks designers to share their design philosophies using a verb-preposition-noun format, suggesting design as an active engagement with the world around us. We’ve got a sampling of some of these funny, sweet, and awe-inspiring multifestos below—but make sure to check the A+ winners pages here and here for the rest!
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May 17, 2013
It is New York City’s first ever design week, NYCxDesign. Fifty years ago, when Richard Meier established his architecture firm in New York it was a different world. Since opening his doors in 1963 Meier has become one of the most prolific and well-known architects practicing today.
He is simultaneously an architect’s architect—he is one of the celebrated New York Five—and known around the world for building iconic and accessible buildings.
Architizer is proud to announce Richard Meier is its 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Watch his inspirational acceptance video above!
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May 14, 2013
Photos: Kollision
It’s a tried and true equation: floorplates plus an interesting facade can provide architectural gold even in the most trying of circumstances. The newest site for putting this idea to the test is downtown Copenhagen, where a reconstruction and revamping of the Confederation of Danish Industry building places a vibrant digital screen across the street from the City Hall and next to the entrance to Tivoli Gardens.
The project, a collaboration between Transform, Martin Professional, and Kollision, involved close collaboration between city officials and the design team in order to create a better fit with its urban surroundings. The screen, fully programmable, changes along its diagonal grid, alternating between vibrant rainbow graphics, numbered displays (presumably of date and time), and abstract linework.
The effect is surprisingly elegant, the designers somehow managing to reconcile contextuality and bombast. Robert Venturi, though, would still call it a decorated shed. More photos after the jump!
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February 28, 2013
Paola Antonelli—MoMA’s Architecture and Design senior curator, A+ juror, and generally awesome person—made an appearance on the Colbert Report last night. And she managed to out-sass the notoriously saucy Stephen Colbert! In the above clip, she talks about a vase made by bees and an earthquake-proof desk, and disses Colbert’s coffee-mug design.
Read more about the interview over at The Huffington Post!
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February 11, 2013
By Tashween Ali
Moby is well known for his interest in architecture, particularly LA architecture (ever checked out his awesome blog?). To show his love, the acclaimed musician—and Architizer A+ Awards juror!—stars in a new 3-minute video promoting Getty’s “Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in LA,” an extensive celebration of the city’s architectural legacy. The initiative features 17 partners, 11 exhibitions, and a mile-long list of events.
Wearing his signature thick frames, which he began sporting decades before nerd glasses went mainstream, Moby crafts a compelling argument—or rather, a love ballad—for embracing the city’s complexities. “LA is paradoxical. LA is in a state of flux. LA is ugly. LA is beautiful,” he says. “To sum it all up, LA is mind-numbingly complicated.” Read more!
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January 29, 2013
Attention acoustics nerds, sculpture enthusiasts, and optics buffs: If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to start your own sculpture park, are holding out for a really great chuppah, or just need a superlative Valentine’s Day gift idea, this may be the deal for you. The British inventor and public-art mastermind Luke Jerram is auctioning off Aeolus, a 10-ton steel-and-string acoustic wind pavilion that whirs and whistles in the breeze like a giant mohawk-shaped harp. Jerram spent three years and £250,000 (about $392,575) constructing the sculpture. Bidding, which opened yesterday, starts at just £1. Read more!
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January 11, 2013
When the switch gets flipped on March 5, powering on 25,000 LEDs strung over the vertical cables of the Bay Bridge, The Bay Lights will be the largest light sculpture in the world, spanning 1.8 miles. It will also be the longest. That’s because the artist behind the installation, Leo Villareal, built custom software that will choreograph the LEDs according to an unrepeating sequence which will play over the project’s two-year span. From sunset until 2:00 a.m., Villareal’s dancing, flickering bridge will illuminate the sky every night into 2014. See the animated rendering!
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December 13, 2012
Photo courtesy of Kevin Scott/Olson Kundig Architects
What if you could lift up your roof as easily as you can open a door? Olson Kundig Architects principal Tom Kundig took the idea of indoor-outdoor living to its logical (and mechanical) extreme with Shadowboxx, a private home in the San Juan Islands, off the coast of Washington. With shifting shutters, walls, and doors, Kundig’s design effectively turns the entire house into a sleeping porch. The bathhouse has a roof that opens like a hatbox.
Olson Kundig just released a time-lapse video demonstrating it all—a first for the firm and for the project, which was completed in 2010. The short documents a day in the life of the house and demonstrates its many possible configurations against a backdrop of whizzing clouds (and the sped-up reaction of the dog pictured above). Video after the jump!
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